He continues with some good comments on the marginal cost of admitting new students. My take is slightly different: Here are a bunch of very bright people who are willing to come to our state and work for almost nothing in a university research program. Basic research and number of patents are one of the very best predictors of economic prosperity for a country (and probably a state as well). We ought to let them come here for free! The fact that we're able to take back almost all the trifling amount of money we pay them as research assistants in fees and tuition is amazing.